


Summer in New York City

by unacaritafeliz



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Falling In Love, Family, Fluff, M/M, Misunderstandings, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-27
Updated: 2018-09-16
Packaged: 2019-07-03 07:03:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,110
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15813879
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unacaritafeliz/pseuds/unacaritafeliz
Summary: Nursey would later regret saying it. Even later, he'd regret regretting that he'd said it."You can stay with me, bro," had said Nursey. "If you think there's better internship opportunities in New York than Maine."[Dex gets a summer internship in New York City. Nursey opens his home to a teammate in need.]





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> So many of you write about Nursey going to spend part of summer in Maine with Dex's family, and that's honestly really great and I (usually) love reading it, but I'm literally in love with the entire "Nurse" family and I hate how often they're ignored or vilified in this fandom so...

It had started on an otherwise insignificant rainy October afternoon during The Frog's sophomore year. Dex and Chowder had been in a surprisingly Bitty-less kitchen, tucking into freshly baked treats and browsing for internship opportunities for the following summer. Nursey had just gotten to the Haus kitchen after his grueling afternoon class, a senior-level poetry seminar he was taking so he'd be allowed to TA the freshman poetry elective next semester.

"Sup, bros?" Nursey had said as he'd walked into the kitchen. There had been a still-warm rhubarb pie on the counter and Nursey had cut himself a generous piece.

"Hi, Nursey!" Chowder had greeted as Dex grunted in acknowledgement. "Dex and I are looking for summer internships."

Nursey had frowned around a bite of pie as he'd sunk into the seat beside Chowder. He had thought that October was a little too late to apply for summer internships. He'd never applied to one himself, but his Mama's company took interns every summer, and he had been sure that they closed applications at the end of September.

"Internships?" he had questioned, completely ignorant of the fact that Unchained Analytics actually closed applications in early November. "Now?"

Dex had fought back a groan, thinking that Nursey had been chirping them for getting internships so early in their college careers instead of spending their holidays relaxing and doing nothing. Dex had been completely incorrect, of course, but at this point of their relationship, Dex had not known Nursey at all.

"Yes, Nurse," Dex had deadpanned, his eyes not even glancing away from his laptop screen. "I know that the summer between sophomore year and junior year seems like nothing to you, but those of us who actually care about their future need to get internships now."

Chowder, however, did know Nursey, and he worriedly glanced up at Nursey to see his response. He wanted to tell Dex that he was wrong to speak to Nursey that way, that there was so much about Nursey that Dex might not ever understand, but Nursey had shaken his head softly and Chowder had fallen silently back into his chair.

Months later, Chowder would sit one of his best friends down on the gross green couch in the Haus living room and rant at him for over an hour for making his other best friend feel small and insignificant, but in that moment? Chowder wasn't going to fuel a fight between his friends unless they started it themselves.

"Right," Nursey had said, who had only been a little disappointed that his d-man still thought so lowly of him, even in the October of their sophomore year. "Where are you guys applying to?"

"I haven't decided yet," had said Chowder. "I've just been looking at my options. There are a lot of great tech start-ups in the Bay Area, and it'll be nice to go home and be near my family, but there are some good opportunities on the East Coast too! I could go to Boston, or Providence or even New York!"

"Yo, New York would be mad chill!" Nursey had said, instantly excited at the prospect of his best friend spending the summer with him.

Dex, however, had rolled his eyes. He had been feeling a little bitter. He'd seen so many good internship opportunities in New York but he hadn't thought he'd be able to afford to take any of them. He was mostly correct; there wouldn't have been any way he could have afforded to take them on his own.

"Won't be so 'mad chill' when you have to spend more than what you earn on housing," He had said. It had sounded bitter even to his own ears. "Assuming you even get a paid internship and earn anything anyway."

"Oh," had said Chowder. He had visibly deflated, a crease forming in his forehead that both Nursey and Dex had wanted to smooth away. "I hadn't thought of where I would stay."

"You could stay with me," Nursey had suggested, motivated mostly by wanting to get the sad expression off his friend's face. "And I'm sure Jack and Shitty would let you stay with them if you ended up in Providence or Boston, if you wanted."

Chowder's face had lit up and Nursey had felt his soul warm. Dex too, despite his firm and genuine belief that the same kindness would not be extended to him by any of his teammates, had felt warmed by the goalie's sunny Californian smile.

"Oh wow, that would be awesome!" Chowder had said. "Thanks Nursey. I'll keep that in mind."

It should be noted that in spite of Chowder's enthusiastic reaction, he wouldn't spend the following summer in New York City. He'd serve his internship at a popular global tech company in the Bay Area, where he could be close to Farmer, his family, and the San Jose Shark's development camp, to which he would be invited in April.

"Wow, that's so great for you, Chow," Dex had muttered, clicking his computer to another page of internship opportunities that were supposedly near home but in reality were nowhere close. "Meanwhile I'll be in fucking Maine where there's no decent opportunities and..."

Nursey would later regret saying it. Even later, he'd regret regretting that he'd said it. But this had been the October of their freshman year - before their many late night study sessions with Chowder and Farmer, before mandatory d-men bonding with Ransom and Holster, before they'd gotten eliminated during the first round of the frozen four, before their soon-to-be infamous dib flip, which left Dex on the floor and Nursey floored at the realisation that Dex actually, literally could not stand him - and all Nursey had wanted to do was to be able to offer something to someone who needed it, to be a useful and worthwhile friend.

And besides, he hadn't actually thought Dex would ever take him up on the offer.

"The offer's open to you too, Poindexter," he had said.

Dex had finally looked away from his laptop and at his partner. "What?" he had asked, one of his red eyebrows raised toward his hairline.

Nursey had shrugged, regret already beginning to seep under his skin, but feeling too committed to pull out now. "You can stay with me too, bro," had said Nursey. "If you think there's better internship opportunities in New York than Maine."

Dex had wanted to ask why. He and Nursey had barely been able to tolerate each other during their frog year, and not much had changed thus far in their sophomore year. He had been glad to spend last summer away from Derek Nurse, he was sure he wouldn't want to be with him next year. But he had known that New York had some of the best opportunities on the east coast and... well, it was still October of his sophomore year. It didn't hurt to keep his options open.

Besides, he had thought it was a long-shot that he'd even be accepted for an internship in New York anyway.

"Uh, thanks, Nurse," Dex had said, as he went back to his search. "I'll keep it in mind."

Six months later, Dex would get an acceptance email for the Unchained Analytics summer internship program.

Six months later, Chowder would break out goalie mode on Dex for the second time that year, letting him know that Chowder would skin Dex alive if he ever found out Dex was only using Nursey as a place to stay.

Six months later, Dex would show up at Nursey's dorm with a grande sized dark chocolate soy mocha latte and a vegan banana-nut muffin, check his pride at the door, and beg for a place to stay from a boy he knows should say no.

Six months later, Nursey would agree to open his home for two whole months to a boy who made him feel impossibly small, hoping against hope that somehow he could make it work.

But none of the three frogs knew any of that. So, they just stayed together in that warm kitchen, working in relative silence until their pie plates were clean, their homework was done, and Bitty had come back home to help make dinner.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since this is just the prologue, I kind of experimented with writing style/tense/POV a little. I feel like Johnson would approve (the only man who's approval I need) but I know it may not be for everyone. Never fear, the rest of the fic will be in my usual writing style so please don't leave just yet! There's so much good stuff on it's way!
> 
> Also I stole part of Nursey's coffee order from [Jenna's Kill-Bill sirens post](https://angeryginger.tumblr.com/post/163851418032/the-baristas-as-annies-deserve-an-award-for) because I don't drink coffee and have no idea what coffee-words mean.


	2. Saturday, Week Zero.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter takes place on Saturday, May 28, 2016.

Nursey deals with the reality of poor, white maybe-republican William Poindexter, a boy that very probably actually hates him, coming to live in his upper middle class queer home of colour the same way he deals with everything that stresses him out - he ignores thinking about it until he literally can't get away from it any longer and then calls Chowder.

"I've got to be out of the house in, like, five minutes so please try to keep your panic short and sweet," Chowder says upon answering the phone.

Chowder's smile is audible through the phone, and his sunny chirping calms something deep inside of Nursey, but it's not enough to stop him from feeling completely on edge. It's the morning of Dex's arrival in New York, and he's been unsuccessfully trying to chill since he helped Grandma set up Farrah's room after dinner last night.

"I should tell him about my moms, right?" Nursey asks. "I mean, it's completely bullshit to have to put a fucking warning label on my moms, but also, like, I don't want things to devolve between us immediately so, like, I should tell him, yeah?"

Chowder sighs, long-suffering but still fond. He really is a saint for putting up with Nursey's Poindexter panics during the last two years. "Firstly, he's literally going to find out in a couple of hours anyway, so it doesn't really matter whether or not you tell him," he says. "And, secondly, we both know Dex isn't like, actually homophobic, he's just really fucking awkward about gay shit. So, like, you don't have to tell him, but it might save your moms the awkward experience of having a white boy gape at them for a few minutes while he tries to think of what to say."

Nursey sighs. "I guess that's true," he says. "I guess I just... I just don't know why the fuck I told him he could stay?"

"Well, I don't know, Nursey," Chowder says, sarcastically. "Probably because you're a good guy who is always trying to do the best for others, even when they don't deserve it."

"Yeah," says Nursey. "I hate that about me."

Chowder laughs on the other end of the line, and Nursey can't help but smile. "Well, I don't," he says. "I love that about you, just like I love everything about you."

"That's mad gay, Chow," Nursey says.

"Actually, I'm bisexual," Chowder says, casually. Nursey grins. "But like, I really don't think this is going to be the end of the world, Nursey. You're both going to spend the weekdays at your respective jobs and you can always avoid each other at nights and weekends if you really want to. It's not like you have to actually hang out."

"I know, but, like, he's going to be in my home, C," says Nursey. He's not whining, but even he can admit it's a pretty close thing. "He's going to be with my family. He's going to be everywhere, there won't be an escape."

"1. This is literally what it's going to be like when you get to school next year," says Chowder. "And 2. That's the exact point. It's your home. It's your family. You're the one doing him a favour and he knows it. He's not going to try and irritate you when you're doing something nice for him. At least, he shouldn't. If he does, then you can just let me know and I'll call him up and kick his ass from California."

Nursey rolls his eyes. "I could totally kick his ass myself, C," he says.

"Yes, but we both know you won't, so I, like a good best friend, am willing to do it for you," Chowder says. There's a pause and then, "It's going to be okay, Nursey. Trust me."

Nursey exhales. "Okay," he says. "I trust you."

"Good," says Chowder. "Now I really gotta go or else I'm gonna be late. I'll call you tonight, though, okay?"

"Okay," Nursey says. "Have fun being a big boy shark or whatever." He hopes his joking tone doesn't completely hide how goddamn proud he is that his best friend is at a NHL development camp for his favourite team.

Chowder snorts. "Or whatever," he echoes. "Bye, Nursey. I love you."

"Love you too, Chris," Nursey says as he hangs up the phone.

Nursey puts the phone down on his dresser and takes a deep breath. Chowder is right, this isn't going to be overly dramatic unless he makes it be. He's just going to have to give Dex as much space as he possibly can and hope that Dex doesn't end up hating him more than he already does.

It's going to be fine.

* * *

Nursey gets to the station just as Dex texts him to let him know that his train from Maine has arrived. Nursey quickly texts directions to Dex, and collapses on the chair next to the exit, digging his fingertips into his thighs as he tries to pull his fake chill out from the slumber they fell into upon reaching New York. Chowder's words echo in his mind - it's going to be okay, Nursey. Trust me.

He's just about calmed himself down when a shadow falls over him, and a voice, Dex's voice, says, "uh, hey, Nursey."

Nursey looks up and straight into Dex's amber eyes. They've only been apart for two weeks, but he already looks different - his hair is cut shorter, and his freckles are packed more closely on his pale face. Summer's always been a good look on Will Poindexter, even if Dex would punch Nursey if he ever acknowledged that.

"Hi," Nursey says, getting to his feet. He doesn't move to hug Dex or to touch him in any other way. That's not a thing he lets himself do anymore. "Let me carry one of your bags for you."

Dex's grip tightens on the suitcase he's wheeling and the duffle bag he's carrying. His messenger bag still hangs loosely from his shoulder, but Nursey's sure that if Dex had another hand, he'd be clutching that too. "I've got it, Nurse," he says.

"Nah, you don't want to be that one guy with excess baggage on the subway," says Nursey. "Give me your duffle, I'm sure I can handle it. You may not know this, but I play hockey so I'm pretty strong."

It's a pretty weak attempt at humour which is probably why Dex doesn't roll his eyes at Nursey's antics. Instead, his eyebrows furrow together. "We're taking the subway?" he asks. Nursey takes advantage of Dex's confusion and swipes Dex's duffle from his hand.

"Uh, chyeah?" Nursey says, walking toward the subway station. "It's the only way to get around New York."

"I thought everyone just took those yellow cabs," Dex says, following quickly behind.

"Nah," says Nursey. "I mean, like, some people do, if they think they're too good for the subway. But I really like the subway. It's chill, you know?"

Nursey wants to tear the skin off his body. He's supposed to be trying to make things work with Dex, but instead he's saying dumb things that is definitely going to annoy Dex. Dex hates it when Nursey says chill, and he obviously doesn't know anything about the subway given that he's only been in the city for approximately five minutes.  
  
"Right, okay," says Dex, instead of calling Nursey out on any of that. Nursey raises an eyebrow. Maybe Chowder was right, maybe Dex would be on his best behaviour since Nursey's letting him stay with them.

They continue the block to the subway station and head down. Nursey walk over to the end of the platform so they can get onto one of the more quieter cars and they set their bags down as they wait for the train to pull up

"So, how has your summer been so far?" Dex asks. He's probably aiming for casual, but he misses it by a mile. The tips of his ears are red.

"Yeah, okay," Nursey says. He hates making small talk like this. Why can't they just ignore each other like adults? "You?"

"Also okay," says Dex. "My ma was pretty cut up about me being away for eight weeks over the summer, but she's really happy I've got my internship, you know?"

Nursey hums and the subway car pulls up. They get on board and shuffle into a corner together. Nursey worries his bottom lip between his teeth. Dex talking about his ma has made Nursey remember his ma and her very female wife that Dex is going to be meeting really, really soon.

He's got to do this. Now.

"So, uh, Dex," he says. "Have you ever met my family?"

If Dex's statement missed casual by a mile, Nursey's misses it by a fucking lightyear.

Dex raises an eyebrow at Nursey. "When would I have met your family?" he asks.

Even though Nursey knows that Dex has never met his parents, it still surprises him to hear Dex imply that he couldn't have. Ma and Mami had visited Samwell six times over the past two years, and Papa had shown up on five different games and Farrah has taken the bus down from Boston once a month since he started school, but, apparently, Dex had never noticed any of that.

It shouldn't hurt, but it does. Nursey is still not used to the fact that Dex honestly, legitimately, does not care about him.

"Uh, family weekend?" he suggests. "Or any of the other times they've come to visit?" He pauses, and adds, "I've met your parents."

Dex's blush spreads from his ears to his cheeks. "Uh, no," he says. "I don't remember meeting either of your parents."

"Okay, well, my parents have been divorced since I was about eight," said Nursey. "My papa lives in Brooklyn with his girlfriend and her kids. We're going to stay with my Ma, in Manhattan."

Dex nods. "Does she live with anyone?" he asks.

"She lives with her parents," says Nursey, "and, her, uh, new wife."

In Dex's defense, his reaction - a slight tensing of his shoulders and widening of his eyes - is almost unnoticeable, and he recovers quickly. Nursey wouldn't have noticed it himself if he hadn't been looking for it.

"Right," Dex says. There's only a slight trace of awkwardness in his voice. Nursey's almost proud of him. "What are their names?"

Nursey pulls out his phone, quickly navigating to his photos. He pulls up a photo of his family from the weekend he'd spent in New York after his last birthday and holds it out to Dex. "My ma, Amina," he says pointing. "And my mama, Paloma. My ma's parents, Malik and Ife. Oh and my sister Farrah, but she's got her own place in Boston now. I don't think she's planning to come up and visit. The room you'll be in is technically hers, though."

Dex nods. "I think I've seen Farrah at Samwell before - has she come to one of our kegsters?" he asks. Before Nursey can respond, he reaches and grabs Nursey's phone, his hand wrapping warmly around Nursey's own. Nursey suppresses the urge to jerk his hand away as Dex zooms in on the screen with his free hand. "Wait, is your stepmom Paloma Espinosa-Reyes?"

"Uh, yes?" Nursey says.

Dex lets go of his phone. "My internship is with Unchained Analytics," he says. "Your stepmom is the director of my goddamn company."

"Oh," says Nursey. "That's, uh..."

"A goddamn conflict of interest, probably!" Dex says. "Fuck!"

It probably says a lot about New York that, despite how loud Dex is being, not a single person looks toward them.

"Yo, dude," Nursey cuts himself off before he uses the ch-word. That would be a disaster. "It's probably not a problem because I'm pretty sure Mama doesn't really deal with the interns at all. We can ask her when we get home and go from there, yeah?"

Dex visibly takes a deep breath and exhales slowly. "Yeah," he says. "Okay."

Nursey exhales in relief. It's going to be a long summer.

* * *

"So, I, uh, don't know how much experience you have with ethnic families," Nursey says, as they take their shoes off outside the door of Nursey's moms' brownstone, "but like, they're all going to want to meet you and talk to you so... apologies in advance if it gets a bit overwhelming."

Dex squares his shoulders. "They're letting me stay here for eight weeks for free, Nurse," he says. "I think I can handle anything they want to throw at me."

Nursey smiles. Chowder was right.

"That's the spirit, Poindexter," Nursey says. He throws open the door and announces, "yo, Will's here!"

Ma and Mami are sitting on the couch in the sitting room, both with their laptops balanced on their knees. Ma immediately sets aside her laptop and jumps to her feet, quickly walking over to Nursey and Dex. She looks like she's going to go for a hug, the appropriate way to meet any of Nursey's teammates except for Dex and maybe Jack, so Nursey quickly flings an arm over her shoulder to stop her. She sticks her hand out instead.

"It's so good to finally meet you, Will," she says. "I'm Amina, and this is my wife, Paloma."

"Nice to meet you, too," says Dex. He sounds genuine but his eyes are focused on Mama, who's finally putting her own laptop aside to walk over.

"Hello, William," she says. She grasps Dex's hand firmly in both of hers. "Welcome to our home."

"Thank you, ma'am," he says. He looks terrified, even though Mama is a good six inches shorter than him.

Mama laughs, throwing her dark curls back. "William, honey, you can call me Paloma," she says.

Dex shifts uncomfortably on his feet, looking so conflicted that Nursey actually feels sorry for him and decides to swoop in to help.

"Mama, Dex's internship is with Unchained," says Nursey. "He's wondering if it might be a conflict of interest staying with you."

Mama bites her lip, "You're in IT intern, aren't you, William?"

"Full stack developer, ma'am," Dex says. Nursey rolls his eyes because Mama just asked him not to call him that. "I'm working under Irene Cho."

"Ah, I don't deal with that part of the business directly, I'll barely even know you're there," says Mama. "Relax, Will. It'll be completely fine."

It's interesting that Dex completely relaxes when Mama tells him to, considering Nursey telling him to chill always has the opposite effect.

"Okay," says Dex. "That's good to know."

"William, you must be exhausted," Ma says. "Derek, take him to his room."

"Okay, Ma," says Nursey, even though he was definitely about to do that anyway. He picks up Dex's duffle with his left hand and grabs the handle of his suitcase with the other. "C'mon, Dex. It's just upstairs."

Dex follows without complaint.

* * *

Nursey's sitting at the kitchen table, chopping onions with Mama while Grandma and Grandpa work on chopping the vegetables for their collard greens, when Dex makes his way back downstairs.

"Uh, hey," he says, awkwardly.

"Hey," says Nursey, quickly rubbing his eye with the against his shoulder before Dex can see how much the onions are making him cry. "These are my grandparents. Grandma, Grandpa, this is my teammate Will."

Grandma and Grandpa mumble their greetings at Dex. Luckily, they're too occupied with cutting their vegetables to attempt to hug him. Nursey goes back to slicing his onion. His eyes are stinging.

"Hi," says Dex. "Nurse, where's the nearest supermarket? I need to go and get stuff for dinner."

Nursey's head snaps up, Kill-Bill sirens going off in his head. He can see where this going playing out so clearly in front of him but he's powerless to stop it.

"Oh, honey, you don't need to make your own dinner," says Grandma. "We're making dinner now, and there's sure to be enough for you."

As expected, Dex's ears flush bright red. If Nursey had said something like that, Dex would be yelling. Something tells him that Dex might be a little bit kinder to his grandma, though.

"That's kind of you," says Dex, awkwardly. "But you're already providing me with a free place to stay, I couldn't possibly accept food from you too."

"It's really no problem, Will," says Grandma, completely unaware that she's poking at a bomb that could detonate at any second. "We gotta eat anyway, so you might as well eat whatever we're making too."

"William, you shouldn't argue with an ethnic grandma that wants to feed you," Mama adds. "It's not a fight you're going to win."

Dex shifts from his left foot to his right foot. He sends a helpless look toward Nursey.

"I mean, if Dex wants to cook for himself then you should let him, Grandma," Nursey tries, softly.

"Baby, I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that," she snaps at him. "Your friend has had a long day and you're going to send him out to the supermarket to get his own dinner when we have perfectly good food here? What's next, you're going to make him get his own dinner after work everyday when the boy will be tired? What if I made you make your own dinner every night, instead of letting you eat what we cook?"

Nursey's eyes go wide. His grandma certainly isn't one to mess with, and, honestly, she's right. It doesn't make sense for Dex to cook his own food, but he knows that Dex doesn't see it like that. Dex sees everything in what he's owed and what he owes, and he hates for it to be unbalanced in either direction.

Nursey shrugs. "I mean, she's got a point, Poindexter," he says. Dex stares at him, completely betrayed. "Just have dinner with us tonight, and maybe we can work out a fair amount you can contribute to the house grocery funds for the rest of your meals while you stay? And you can help us cook."

"Derek Malik Nurse, are you honestly going to charge that boy..." Grandma starts. Nursey shoots a look at Mama, silently begging her to intervene.

"No, Mom, I think Derek's right," Mama says. "It's good for William to pay his own way. Amina will sort it out with him later tonight, okay?"

Grandma sighs. "Okay, fine," she says.

"William?" Mama says.

Dex looks like he's going to keep fighting it. He looks over at Nursey and Nursey puts all his effort into pleading with Dex to let it go with his eyes. Dex sighs.

"Okay," says Dex. "But I'm paying a fair amount for my share, okay?"

"Yes, yes," Mama says. "Now, you can help us with dinner. Have you ever made Pastel de Choclo before?"

Dex looks so lost that Nursey can't help but laugh.

"Ay, you got so much to learn," Mama says. "Come sit with me, I'll teach you."

* * *

Dinner goes off without a hitch (Dex is immediately obsessed with Mama's Pastel de Choclo, which surprises no one, and Grandpa even gets Dex talking about lobster fishing in Maine, which definitely surprises Nursey). Afterwards, Dex disappears into the kitchen to talk to Amina while Nursey heads upstairs to brush his teeth and do his nightly moisturizing routine. Once he's done, he goes and knocks on Dex's bedroom door. When Dex answers, he's clad in soft pyjama pants and a Samwell t-shirt that's probably Holster's, given that it's just a little too big for him. He doesn't quite fit in with the soft, neutral colours of the room, but then again neither did Farrah, even though the room has always technically been hers. Maybe it was just always meant to be a guest room - never really fitting to a single person.

"Sorry about grandma in the kitchen," Nursey says. "I know she can be a little... insistent."

"You're really apologising for the fact your grandma is the sweetest, most generous human in the world?" Dex asks.

"I know it made you uncomfortable," says Nursey. "And I'm sorry for it. This is your home for the next eight weeks too, you should feel comfortable here."

Dex shakes his head. "Your family is really great, Nurse," he says. "But I don't want them to treat me like a charity case."

"That's not what they're doing," Nursey says. "That's just how they are. They don't really think about the money when it comes to doing stuff for our... guests."

Nursey swallows. He'd almost said friends. But he can't say that, because that's not what they are, that's not what this is. Nursey isn't Dex's friend, he's just a teammate that could help Dex get to where he needs to be. That's it.

"Well, I hope you and Ma sorted it out, anyway," says Nursey.

"Yep, we did," says Dex.

"Cool," says Nursey. "Uh, I actually came here to tell you, we have to share the bathroom tomorrow morning. We should probably make a plan so we don't get in each other's way."

Nursey would never admit to it, but he desperately needs their bathroom sharing to work. They'll be sharing a bathroom at Samwell all next year, with Chowder thrown in the mix too, and if they can't make it work now, then they're rooming arrangement is totally screwed.

"I usually like to shower around seven," says Dex. "I can go earlier, though, if it works better for you?"

It's actually perfect; earlier than Nursey would shower on weekends and later than he needs to shower during the week. Relief settles in Nursey's chest.

"Seven sounds good," he says. "I'll see you tomorrow, then. Goodnight, Dex."

He turns around and walks to his room across the hallway.

"Hey Nurse?" Dex calls out.

Nursey turns around to see Dex still peaking out from his doorframe. There's an emotion in his eyes that Nursey cannot name. He's never seen that look on Dex before.

"Thanks," Dex says. "For everything."

Nursey looks back at him and smiles. "Yeah, it's chill."

Dex rolls his eyes and shuts the door. Nursey closes his own door and leans against the back of it, exhaling sharply. He fishes his phone out from his pocket and calls Chowder's number.

"Good to see you're still alive," Chowder says. "Is Dex?"

"Yeah," Nursey says. "I think this might actually work, C."

"I fucking told you so," says Chowder. The smirk is evident in his voice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry this took so long, writing multi chapter fics that span long periods of time scares me a lot. I have the timeline mostly sorted out, though, so hopefully I'll write more soon.
> 
> Also, I've tried to align Nursey's (Ma's) family with the gorgeous family I gave him in [A Little Loving in Between](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13612062/chapters/31250478). That fic is completely unrelated to this one but you should read it anyway because I'm really proud of it. And also, it's finished (I wrote it for Nursey Week 2018!)
> 
> Next Up, we join Dex for his first day at work!


End file.
